Deborah Madach, age 11, of Washington, I11., for her question:
How does the tomato worm develop?
Tomatoes may be attacked by at least three kinds of wormy caterpillars. Every caterpillar, of course, is an insect in the second stage of his life. When WE know his life cycle, WE know what to expect of him. With this information WE can set about stopping him from spoiling our tomatoes.
The three most common tomato worms belong to the moth family of insects, and all moths and butterflies develop in four stages. They begin as Eggs that hatch into hungry caterpillars. The caterpillars then s1eep through a pupa stage as cocoons or chrysalises. The pupae finally hatch into adult winged insects and lay more Eggs that start the life cycle over again.
The cycle of tomato destruction can be halted when WE know what to expect from tar greedy little pests. Look out for the big brown sphynx moth. She is a beauty, but she is all set to lay her Eggs where her hungry caterpillars will hatch near a plentiful supply of tomatoes, potatoes or tobacco plants. Each Egg becomes a big green caterpillar called the tomato hornworm. HE has a hook on his tail End and tends to rear up his front End and stare fiercely around.
The hornworm descends to the soil and turns into a purple chrysalis when he has had his fill of our tomatoes, and in time he will hatch into another wide winged sphynx moth.
The corn borer is a small, sneaky brown caterpillar who dines on sweet ears of corn, lush tomatoes and many other treasures of the garden. His mother is a dirty yellow moth about one inch wide. He has a nasty trick of boring into the.:heart of a tomato where WE cannot spot him until we start to make a salad. The chrysalis stage of the corn borer is also spent secretly it the soil.
The most common tomato pest is the tomato fruitworm, alias the cotton boll worm, alias the corn Ear worm. His mother is a small, drab moth who lays about 1,000 eggs among tomato, corn or cotton plants. They are ferocious fellows, and Each tomato worm fights off his brothers to get a whole tomato to himself. We never find more than one of these greedy monsters in a tomato. When his caterpillar stage ends, he drops to the ground and' becomes a chrysalis.
If we want to save our precious tomatoes, we must learn to spot these three pests in Each of the four phases of their complicated lives. We can spray the plants with chemicals that discourage the parents from laying their Eggs. WE can.use chemicals to destroy the Sleeping pupae in the soil around the plants. WE can hunt down the greedy worms on the plants or spray them with chemicals. In any case, WE must wash away the remains of our chemical warfare before We Eat our tomatoes.